Page:A Plea for the Middle Classes.djvu/15

 the thorns with which she is crowned, the reed that pierce her hand, the worm that gnaws at her vitals. They will avenge themselves. An injury has been done them which, if they feel not what it is, they feel all those bitter passions of revenge and contempt which add vigour to their natural hostility to the restraints of religion. Almost, therefore, periodically the neglected children of the Church band together against her. At intervals of about a hundred or a hundred and fifty years, the reckoning is made up, and the penalty paid with fearful interest.

But an additional argument, confirmatory of the evil effects of the Church's neglect, is supplied in the debased principles of trading. This is a subject of observation in all quarters. To me it has always appeared an infallible sign of the decay of honesty and high principle amongst us, that scarcely any undertaking of importance can now be safely commenced without binding down those who are employed in it by the most stringent covenants and contracts. This has grown upon us of late in a way never heard of before, and requires a distinct consideration; certain it is that tradesmen generally complain of the principle on which trade is conducted, and confess their desire to be emancipated from it, if it could be accomplished,—our duty is to labour to loose them and let them go. Those, indeed, who slight the use of means, deny that all baptized people are the children of the Church, and trust to the conversion of a straggling individual here and there by a sort of fatality, will give no attention to considerations such as these; but those who know and feel that the Church is responsible for every soul that has passed through the waters of regeneration, will comprehend the importance of speculations, which aim at devising a plan whereby the consciences and affections of the great masses of the population may be secured. It is an object that cannot be deferred any longer, everything depends upon it; our peace and prosperity as a nation, and the salvation of the people intrusted to our care. Every son of the Church who is passed by without a proper Christian training, is furnished with a sword to draw against his own spiritual mother, and draw it he will, sooner or later, and that too effectually. How large an army is there of such at this moment waiting for the first opportunity which shall offer for thrusting their swords into the breast of her who gave them indeed spiritual birth, but who afterwards cast them away and deserted them, because of evils and difficulties real or fancied.